Naya German / European Highlander

Highlander Competitive Goodstuff Hatebears Midrange Stompy Stoneblade

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Creature (37)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bomat Courier
• 1x Deathrite Shaman
• 1x Dryad Militant
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Giver of Runes
• 1x Hexdrinker
• 1x Ignoble Hierarch
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Noble Hierarch
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Arcus Acolyte
• 1x Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fleecemane Lion
• 1x Qasali Pridemage
• 1x Robber of the Rich
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Tarmogoyf
• 1x Tithe Taker
• 1x Voice of Resurgence
• 1x Anje's Ravager
• 1x Endurance
• 1x Klothys, God of Destiny
• 1x Loxodon Smiter
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Palace Jailer
• 1x Questing Beast
• 1x Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1x Hooting Mandrills

Land (35)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 5x Forest
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Karakas
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mountain
• 5x Plains
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Stirring Wildwood
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Treetop Village
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Wrenn and Six

Instant (9)

• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Unholy Heat
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Unexpectedly Absent
• 1x Magmatic Sinkhole

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Chain Lightning
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Prismatic Ending
• 1x Arc Trail
• 1x Rip Apart
• 1x Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip
• 1x Thundering Rebuke

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Mirri's Guile
• 1x Paladin Class
• 1x Ranger Class
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Blood Moon

Artifact (5)

• 1x Portable Hole
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine

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Maybeboard

Creature (13)

• 1x Wild Nacatl
• 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1x Courser of Kruphix
• 1x Crystalline Giant
• 1x Goblin Rabblemaster
• 1x Gruul Spellbreaker
• 1x Kitchen Finks
• 1x Knight of Autumn
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Managorger Hydra
• 1x Renegade Rallier
• 1x Bloodbraid Elf
• 1x Thrun, the Last Troll

Instant (4)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Mutagenic Growth
• 1x Lightning Helix
• 1x Price of Progress

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• 1x Gideon Blackblade
• 1x Gideon of the Trials

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Flame Slash
• 1x Forked Bolt
• 1x Ruination

Land (2)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Urza's Saga

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Rancor

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From a pure deckbuilding standpoint, I believe those decks to be the most successful that manage to reduce the variance inherent to a singleton format by either a) playing mostly cards that are more or less the same (i.e., Mono Red's cards all deal ~3 damage or are lands) or b) by playing a lot of cheap card selection spells (blue cantrips) to increase the chances of drawing what you want in any given sitution.

That being said, I still believe many other archetypes to be viable, because in our beautiful format, pilot skill and format knowledge edge out deckbuilding prowess.

With that said, here is my version of a Naya midrange deck. In the last couple of years, spell efficiency has further increased and mana cost of cards played has decreased throughout all archetypes in Highlander. No longer do we see a lot of 4-drops in archetypical midrange builds (like 4-color blood), and 5-drops are long since a thing of the past. I do not believe those cards to be generally unplayable - as long as you make sure they line up well against the hyper efficient removal that is commonly played in 2021.

This naya deck came into being for the following reasons: a) I wanted to play the best removal, which meant playing red (unless you include blue removal, because Mana Drain'ing a 2drop is still far and away the best kind of threat removal ;) ) b) I wanted to play with creatures as my main win condition, which moved my towards green (and to a lesser extent white) and its ramp and midrange creatures. c) I wanted the deck to be geared against the best decks in the format, which are blue-based tempo decks at the moment, which made me include white for cards like Paladin Class, Voice of Resurgence, Tithe Taker, Thalia, Heretic Cathar as well as Loxodon Smiter. d) I wanted to play nonbasic land hate and a manabase that is good with and against Blood Moon.

All this lead to this deck, which, in essence, is a Selesnya deck splashing red for removal, Blood Moon, Wrenn&Six and Klothys, God of Destiny. The other red cards in this deck I think of as less important to the deck.

Things I want to look out for during playtesting: a) Does the deck actually hold its own against the blue tempo decks? b) Does it have game across most matchups? c) Importantly, is there any merit to playing Naya over other 3/4 color midrange variants? d) Should the deck be slanted more aggressively or skewed even more in a midrange direction? e) Can my mana base actually support playing Blood Moon? Is it worth playing Blood Moon in the first place? f) There is a plethory of good 3-drop creatures available in this color combination. Which and how many should be played? The same is true for 4-drops, but these are less important to the deck overall and could (should?) be cut for curve considerations.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Highlander legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	1.88
Tokens	Elemental */* GW, Emblem Wrenn and Six, Spirit 1/1 WB, The Monarch, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	Naya